Bringing the Hammer Down —

Total War developer gets Warhammer video game license

Move does not affect planned games set in the 40K universe.

The Creative Assembly, developers of the popular Total War simulation series, have announced a partnership with Sega to make a series of games based on Games Workshops' popular Warhammer license.

An entirely new team is being set up at the UK developer to handle the franchise, with plans to release its first game "beyond 2013," according to an announcement today. There are no details yet on what specific direction The Creative Assembly is planning to take with its video game adaptation of the tabletop wargaming franchise, but Studio Director Tim Heaton promised to "[do] the Warhammer universe justice in a way that has never been attempted before." The new titles shouldn't affect the development of Total War: Rome II or the unnamed Alien-based project currently underway at The Creative Assembly.

THQ and Sega representatives told Eurogamer that the new licensing deal does not affect the future of the related Warhammer 40,000 license, which is currently controlled by THQ. Relic Entertainment's 40K game Dark Millennium is still targeted for an early 2013 release, but THQ announced earlier this year that the title was being scaled back to focus more on single-player gameplay, after starting development as an MMO way back in 2007.

The basic Warhammer license has been used sporadically in video games in the last decade, including the Mythic-developed Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, which is still running as a moderately successful free-to-play title. The spin-off, fantasy/strategy/football amalgam Blood Bowl has also been developed into a game franchise that was recently revived.

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There's already a community built around the fan mod Call of Warhammer (for Medieval II, IIRC), which could create some fan angst if a WH TW game was less than stellar. However, they might opt to go the route of Spartan and Viking instead and make a hack 'n' slash bolstered by the TW engine, which would neatly sidestep fan backlash about killing CoW.

2434 posts | registered Oct 31, 2006

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

I think this sort of game is where skeuomorphism would work best. I would _love_ an actual sim of the table-top, with dice, rulers, templates and everything, just without the painting (though optional, maybe like Forza type of skinning). When you think about it, miniatures and rule-books are just another form of downloadable content, though whether I'd be prepared to pay is another matter! Maybe this would be good for WiiU or Xbox+Smartglass

The basic Warhammer license has been used sporadically in video games in the last decade, including the Mythic-developed Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, which is still running as a moderately successful free-to-play title.

Sadly and to much confusion it's still not F2P. There's level limited trial and that's it.

I loved some of the ideas behind Mark of Chaos... it'll be great if they did something along those lines with less issues and the scale of the total war series.... I can't wait to see what comes of this.

THQ scaled back the game to shove it out the door in early 2013 so they don't go completely bankrupt. They've already defaulted on a 50 million dollar loan from Wells Fargo, and they basically have until January to get new financing or close down for good.

The Total War series is the only reason I have parallels on my computer. Wish they would source more mac compatibility. Keep it simple is what I ask for on first iterative, don't let it get bogged down in MMO only push that on when the world is fleshed out. To flesh out a new world and MMO it would be suicide, and delay things too much. Get the stories going with the first person one and bring it to life in the MMO.

There's already a community built around the fan mod Call of Warhammer (for Medieval II, IIRC), which could create some fan angst if a WH TW game was less than stellar. However, they might opt to go the route of Spartan and Viking instead and make a hack 'n' slash bolstered by the TW engine, which would neatly sidestep fan backlash about killing CoW.

I have such fond memories of Shogun (the original) and Medieval. It's almost enough to get me to buy a PC so I can play the new titles...

You mean you haven't even played Rome: Total War? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR MAN, GO BUY YOURSELF A DAMN PC!

I'm sure someone in the Agora Forums has one an old machine that will run Rome: Total War just fine. I still play that game to this day. Load up Medieval II: Total War while you're at it.

You poor deprived soul, you!

On topic for this article, I am absolutely stoked about this. I read this morning on RPS and I've been giddy ever since. Rome II haven't even been released yet and I've been looking forward to that with unbridaled anticipation since Medieval II came out. It'll be very interesting to see how Creative Assembly handles a fantasy universe in their incredible Total War style of strategy gaming. There have been tons of mods over the years for LOTR wargames and the likes, but this is the first time we get to see CA do it. I for one am incredibly freaking ecstatic.

I had no idea Blood Bowl was a Warhammer spin-off. I also completely missed that they "recently" released it on the PC. Double-cool.

A friend got me into that a couple years ago. The vanilla game was pretty fun, but we extended it using a bunch of Marvel figurines from another game and played superheroes vs super-villains. "HULK BLITZ!"

Oh, WOW. I love Warhammer 40k, and the Total War people know how to do a simulation properly. I predict the greatest Warhammer games ever - unless you think Space Marine is the epitome of Waaaaagh.

Space Marine was a decent enough representation of Waaagh!, but it just isn't complete without a few Goblin Doom Diver catapults slinging steel capped goblins with wings strapped to their backs around the battle field. That and at least one Arachnarok spider. In other words, Orcs are cool, but the gobbos round it out and make it "interesting".

Oh, WOW. I love Warhammer 40k, and the Total War people know how to do a simulation properly. I predict the greatest Warhammer games ever - unless you think Space Marine is the epitome of Waaaaagh.

Space Marine was a decent enough representation of Waaagh!, but it just isn't complete without a few Goblin Doom Diver catapults slinging steel capped goblins with wings strapped to their backs around the battle field. That and at least one Arachnarok spider. In other words, Orcs are cool, but the gobbos round it out and make it "interesting".

Space Marines don't recognize the authority of heretical invisible walls, nor do they rock out with a 360 controller.

Space marine was fun for a console port, though. I enjoyed the story and the acting too, although most reviews I've seen didn't seem to care for it.

I played Space Marine on PC and enjoyed it. The point I was making though, is that for a proper Orc Waaaagh!, you need goblins. You don't get that in 40k because the gretchin don't play as significant a role in combat as they do in Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I play Orcs and Goblins on the tabletop and the goblins make the whole experience. Orcs alone tend to be pretty bland IME.

This is very good news. The Total War engine lends itself very well to following the game rules closely.

Geeze, I hope not. People like Warhammer because of the background, art and miniatures. The rules themselves are moderate to horrible.

As someone who plays 40k, Fantasy, and Warma/Hordes, I can honestly say the Fantasy ruleset isn't that bad. Though I'll assume you were a competitive 7th edition player who gave up upon 8th being released.

This is very good news. The Total War engine lends itself very well to following the game rules closely.

Geeze, I hope not. People like Warhammer because of the background, art and miniatures. The rules themselves are moderate to horrible.

Have they changed significantly since the early 2000's? The rules I remember mainly involved unit stats, army composition, and (of course) the turn ordering... but similarly to SFC, the turn order and dice rolling itself (which was the tedious part IMHO) would all be updated due to the real-time nature of the TW engine.

Basically, I disagree that the terrible part of the rules will even exist... but everything else should.

I would have preferred that the makers of the 2012 X-COM had got the license. There was game Warhammer 40k: Chaos Gate that was based on the old X-Com engine, it would have been nice to see a new version of Warhammer with X-Com engine.

I all really wanted was a proper sequel to the original dawn of war (or just an update to 64bit to get around memory probs)

I enjoyed mark of chaos despite it's faults although preferred dark omen. More of the same would be good and less generic first person I.e space marine. For me warmer is about armies and not just individuals and please can I play the campaign as skaven please

Oh man, I can't wait to crush face with my Dwarves. This is going to be such an awesome game.

Honestly, the Total War engine lends itself far more to Warhammer Fantasy than Warhammer 40k. Warhammer 40k is all about the vehicles and small squads (by comparison), which doesn't really show off the Total War Engine's abilities. Warhammer Fantasy, especially the new rules, is all about the big units. Maybe not as big as the other Total War games, but certainly far bigger than Warhammer 40k.

I think 40k is better run in the Dawn of War style skirmished based games, or even an MMOFPS like Planetside. I wouldn't mind a turn-based or even real-time strategy game on the Total War scale, and I'm sure I'd play the hell out of that too.

What I think is *really* missing, though, is Mordheim or Necromunda. Small skirmish style game with roleplaying elements and territorial control... come on! It's basically Dawn of War 2, except you're NOT a squad of super-human badasses.

Is Warhammer the origin of the very popular sci-fi convention of space marines vs. advanced genocidal aliens vs hive-mind swarm? That convention plays out in so many sci-fi movies and games including Halo, Starcraft, Aliens (especially Prometheus), etc.

Is Warhammer the origin of the very popular sci-fi convention of space marines vs. advanced genocidal aliens vs hive-mind swarm? That convention plays out in so many sci-fi movies and games including Halo, Starcraft, Aliens (especially Prometheus), etc.

That dates all the way back to 1959 with Robert Heinlein and Starship Troopers. That wasn't even the first example - just the "defining" one.